The mistake that Sharon and I both made is we never set any boundaries. (Ozzy Osbourne)

Children do not develop on their own - they only develop within relationships.

The more 2 parents differ in their approaches to discipline, the more likely it leads to trouble for the child.

Reading Rescue – theory – part 1

There are 2 basic approaches to teaching reading:

phonics based

whole language

The traditional theory of learning established in the 19th century draws on the notion that children need to break down a complex skill into its smallest components and then put the components together to perform the complex skill.

Example – the complex skill of skiing

The components of skiing:

putting boots and skis on

walking on level, snow covered ground with skis

turning while walking on level snow

sliding on a gentle slope

stopping in a “snowplow” position

left turn

right turn

With proper instruction and some practice most people can learn to ski relatively well in a short period of time.

a) “Phonetic reading instruction” applies the same theory. Start with the smallest component and build from there:

teach the sounds of the individual letters

blend the individual sounds together to make words

put individual words together to make meaningful sentences

Children are taught to dissect an unfamiliar word into its parts and join the parts together to read the new word. The child learns a decoding formula that can be applied whenever he encounters an unfamiliar word.

b) “Whole language reading instruction” is less structured and less focused. It stresses the flow and meaning of the text and emphasizes reading for meaning and using language in ways that relate to the child’s own life and culture. “Sounding out” words, so central to phonics is not stressed in whole language. Instead children are encouraged to decode each word through its larger context.